Lazarec A Collins

Lazarec A. Collins, a 26-year-old Black man who had attended Near North Career Metro High School, was known to friends and family as a loyal and funny big brother. He was in a car with his girlfriend and his two-year-old nephew on Valentine's Day 2017 when a shocking act of violence cut his life short. The attack, which also killed his nephew, Lavontay White Jr., was partially captured in a video streamed live on Facebook, bringing national attention to the persistent gun violence in Chicago.

The afternoon of February 14, 2017, was brutally interrupted at around 1:30 p.m. in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Lazarec was a passenger in a car being driven by his 20-year-old pregnant girlfriend, with his young nephew strapped into a car seat in the back. As they drove through an alley in the 2300 block of South Kenneth Avenue, another car pulled alongside them. Two individuals inside the other vehicle opened fire, unleashing a barrage of more than a dozen gunshots. The horrifying moments were captured on the girlfriend's phone as she was streaming on Facebook Live. The video shows them listening to music before the shots ring out, followed by screams.

Lazarec was struck five times in his back, abdomen, and legs. His nephew, Lavontay, was shot once in the back of the head. Both were rushed to Stroger Hospital, where they were pronounced dead. Lazarec's girlfriend, who was four months pregnant, was shot in the abdomen but managed to run from the car to a nearby house. She and her unborn baby were expected to survive. Chicago Police later identified Lazarec as the intended target of what they believed was a gang-related retaliation shooting. Authorities noted that Lazarec was a documented gang member with a criminal record.

The Chicago Police Department launched an intensive investigation into the double homicide. The Facebook Live video became a critical piece of evidence. Within days, police made their first arrest. Devon Swan, 26, was taken into custody and charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Shortly after, two more suspects, 19-year-olds Doniel Harris and Jeremy Ellis, were also arrested and faced the same charges. Prosecutors alleged the shooting was in retaliation for the killing of a brother of one of the suspects, an act they believed Lazarec was responsible for.

The legal process for the three men charged in the brutal slayings extended over several years, ultimately resulting in convictions for all of them. Jeremy Ellis pleaded guilty to murder and in March 2024 was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Devon Swan, who cooperated with prosecutors and testified against an accomplice, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in October 2023. In November 2024, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, receiving credit for time served.

The final defendant, Doniel Harris, went to trial. In November 2024, a jury found him guilty of murder and attempted murder for his role in the attack. The convictions brought a measure of closure to a case that highlighted a particularly violent week in Chicago, during which two other children, 11-year-old Takiya Holmes and 12-year-old Kanari Gentry-Bowers, were also killed in separate shootings. At a press conference following the arrests, then-Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson urged the public to remember the young victims, stating, "Let their lives and death be a reminder of how we need to come together as a city to reduce the gun violence in these neighborhoods." The case against the men responsible for the deaths of Lazarec Collins and Lavontay White Jr. is now closed, with all three perpetrators convicted and sentenced as of November 2024.